To say that I have some issues with the Catholic Church would be an understatement. I am not a radical person who goes around bombing Catholic churches but it is also true that I have made no effort to conceal the fact that I think that some church teachings are flawed and that the people within the church are increasingly becoming hypocrites.

Am I an atheist? I don't think so. As much as I would love to say that I am, I can't. I believe in a higher being. Whether his/her/its name is God, Yahweh, Jehovah or Mohamed, I believe that there is a force that is responsible for our existence. And no, I will not argue about whether creationism should be taught in school instead of evolution. I will argue about that at another time.

The thing is that I do believe that some of the things we are taught as Catholics in religion class are wrong. Even at an early age I could not accept them as something God, a being that is said to be loving and merciful, will do. And one of those things is the concept of limbo.

Our teachers have taught us that limbo is the place where babies, and people of a different faith, who were not baptized into the catholic faith, go. Limbo is a place of nothing. Limbo is not heaven.

As a fourth grader I could not wrap my head around that. I had a Muslim classmate back then and she was this really nice girl. She was quiet, polite, witty when you got her talking and had one of the best penmanships I've ever seen. The point is I could not fathom why she would not be allowed to go to heaven should she pass away. I refused to think that our bitchy classmates have a shot at eternal salvation and this girl would not. And the babies. Those babies didn't choose not to be baptized or they just didn't last long enough to have one. In any case, that's not their fault and I don't know why they should be punished for it.

In the long run, I have begun to think that this is just a ploy of the Catholic Church to get more people on their side. Threaten parents that their children will end up in the land of continous darkness. That's a case of manipulation if you ask me. Also I do think that this teaching encourages Catholics to isolate and demean people of other faiths. I've heard of people who say that this or that person won't go to heaven and will never be saved because they are not Catholic.

Well today I am a bit appeased on this issue since I read that the Church is now doing away the concept of Limbo. They say they are doing it because it is "unduly restrictive view of salvation." And get this; it turns out that this bugger isn't even part of Catholic Doctrine. Makes me wonder what else are they teaching us when actually shouldn't. Hmmmm.

But anyhoo, I am happy over this. Of course there are still a bunch of other stuff I feel the Church should do away with but as for now, I'm going to cut them some slack.